The difficulties associated with the use of hand tools and power tools in confined or otherwise difficult to reach work spaces are well known in many industries. Performance of repairs and maintenance on automobiles, for instance, often involves the need for the removal or attachment of threaded fasteners such as nuts, bolts and screws which are located in confined areas, at difficult angles or distances to reach, and which cannot be accessed by many tools. As a consequence, these threaded fasteners must often be rotated with open end wrenches providing only a slow manual manipulation of the fastener using a series of back and forth hand movements to accomplish incremental moments of travel. Such practices are labor intensive and afford little or no means for limiting the torque delivered to the fastener. In some circumstances, the fastener may be located in areas which are out of reach by even elongated ratcheted wrenches or at distances that make use of the wrench impracticable because there is insufficient room to accommodate the distance that the wrench handle must travel to accomplish even a small degree of rotation of the fastener. This occurs because the distance that the handle of the wrench must travel along the arc of rotation increases in proportion to the length of the tool (i.e., the distance of the handle from the working end of the tool).
There have been a number of hand tools designed for angled work and for work in confined spaces generally. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,089 issued to Scott and is comprised of a driver for socket wrenches or similar tools constructed to effect rotation of the wrench by rotary wrist action. Manual rotation of a grip is transmitted through shafts and gears to the tool lug and a ratchet mechanism is provided to permit the selective transmission of torque to the tool in either direction of grip rotation. The Scott device does suffer from various limitations and shortcomings not the least of which are its inability to integrate with a rotational drive device such as a powered drill as well as its unsuitability for work in confined spaces.
Additionally, various forms of speed ratchet handles and ratchet wrench speeders, have been provided to address the limitations of conventional socket and ratchet wrenches. Speed ratchet handles and ratchet wrench speeders of the prior art are often expensive to manufacture and do not permit attachment or adaptation to existing socket, ratchet, or torque wrenches.
U.S. Design Pat. No. D415,664 issued to Rapoport teaches a hand held speeder tool and rotary device designed to fit into confined areas. The Rapoport device utilizes a built-in pull cord in combination with a rotary disc assembly to transfer rotational torque to an output shaft which may be coupled with various forms of sockets and removable screwdriver blades to rapidly rotate against light torque loads (e.g. fasteners). While the unique design of the tool makes it useful in confined work spaces, because the axis of rotation extends directly from the user's hand the tool may only be used in areas which are within arm's reach of the user. Moreover, the tool is not intended to be used in combination with a powered rotational drive device such as a drill, but rather must be manually operated at all times.
In view of the requirement of working with fasteners at confining and remote locations, and still further considering the desire to utilize a powered rotational drive device while doing so, it is apparent that a need exists for a drill attachment capable of reaching threaded fasteners in relatively tight working areas, in areas where the drill itself cannot fit and at angles perpendicular to the axis-of-rotation of the drill.